Bundyville: The Remnant

The story of how a small group of activists and scientists fought to save America's last old growth forests, and in the process upended the Pacific Northwest, turned environmental conflicts into culture wars, and transformed the very way we see the natural world. Produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting and 30 Minutes West, with original music by Laura Gibson.

“Bundyville” is a deep dive into the politics and fringe religious beliefs that drive the Cliven Bundy family and their followers. From prophecies and nuclear testing to white supremacists and radical plans to shrink public lands, “Bundyville” explains how one family has beaten the federal government twice — and why this battle has just begun.

Our series begins in April 2014 in Bunkerville, Nevada, and chronicles the Bundys' leadership of two armed uprisings and their two victories over federal prosecutors. It also puts the Nevada and Oregon standoffs in a broader context of the growing far-right movement in America, which has grown steadily and substantially since two violent standoffs in the 1990s — Waco and Ruby Ridge — left dozens of people dead.

Dig into Cliven Bundy’s past and find out where his determination to dismantle the federal government began. It’s a story that takes us back to the government’s nuclear test program in the 1950s — imagine bombs in the Nevada desert — and culminates with Timothy McVeigh blowing up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. Along the way, the family patriarch becomes more emboldened to fight back against a government he believes is out to get him.

To understand the Bundys, and their unwavering belief that they alone can save the U.S. Constitution, you must understand their faith. The Bundys are Mormon and deeply religious, but their beliefs are rooted in fundamentalist scripture disavowed by the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Many journalists have written about the Bundys, and much of that writing has been done during the chaotic armed standoffs the family led in 2014 and 2016. But few people have talked to Cliven Bundy at length in his home in Bunkerville, Nevada. The man at the center of these events tells his side of the story in his own words.

Welcome to Bundyville, a ghost town high in the Arizona mountains that used to be home to 200 people, most of them named Bundy. Find out how this family history has helped attract anti-government activists from around the country to Cliven Bundy’s cause. The episode also discusses the white privilege and double standards that have allowed far-right extremists inspired by the Bundys to become more bold in their actions.

The Bundys want to talk about land rights and Constitutional law, but the fights they pick have real, tragic consequences. This episode assesses the damage done by the Bundys, a chronicle of pain that includes prehistoric artifacts trampled by cattle, politicians shrinking public lands and a pair of Bundy followers who hatched a plot to murder as many police officers as they could find.

The Bundys walked free in January 2018, but the story is far from over. The family has drawn large crowds on a multi-state speaking tour. Ryan Bundy is running for governor of Nevada. The national debate over public lands has tilted decidedly to the right. And in other forgotten corners of the West, momentum is building for another armed standoff.

"Bundyville: The Remnant" explores the world beyond the Bundy family and the armed uprisings they inspired. This series investigates extremist violence that results from the conspiracy theories of the anti-government movement, who is inspiring that violence and who stands to benefit.

In a remote desert town in the summer of 2016, a bombing took place and almost no one noticed. When Glenn Jones killed himself and blew up the family home of Josh Cluff, no one thought much of it. But what if it was something more? What if the bombing was actually a small window into the world of extremist violence that's been fueled by the anti-government movement?

The 2016 bombing in Nevada is far from the only act of violence related to the self-described Patriot movement. In fact, it wasn't even the only bomb to blow up that year. Another explosion happened that summer near a Bureau of Land Management cabin in Arizona — and the man who pushed the detonator tells us what made him do it.

When police killed Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum in 2016 during the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge takeover, a grand jury deemed it a justified shooting. But for the Patriot Movement, it was an assassination. They call Finicum a martyr. So, what happens when people who have a deep-seated mistrust of the government finally have a justification to take action?

Stevens County, Washington, has been the origin point for a litany of white supremacist and anti-government violence over the past 40 years. In a time of extreme political rhetoric and conspiratorial thinking, we explore how the Patriot movement is workshopping some of their most radical ideas here and who is being recruited into the movement.

The violence perpetrated by the anti-government movement has long been fringe and rare. But more politicians are starting to accept extremist language and ideas as a part of their platform. One of those people is Washington state Rep. Matt Shea. He says he sees a chance for a 51st state in the Northwest — a place that would be governed by strict biblical laws and made up almost entirely of white people.

To find out how radical ideas enter the mainstream, we trace one back to a secretive religious community in Stevens County, Washington. That place — Marble Community Fellowship — has a dark past and is preparing for an apocalyptic future. One exile takes us inside to see what's really at the heart of anti-government extremism.

The bombing in Panaca, Nevada, was a case that led journalist Leah Sottile on an unexpected journey to a nerve center of hate and anti-government sentiment in the West. But newly uncovered evidence in the case offers a broader view of extremist violence — and some possible solutions.

In July 2019, Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas sat down with OPB's Dave Miller for a live Q&A event in Portland, Oregon. The discussion covered a range of topics, from how the second season of Bundyville came together to why conversations about white supremacy and extremist violence are necessary -- even when those conversations are uncomfortable.

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